Thanks to my wonderful Beta: any-otp-will-do. You are brilliant for helping be get two chapters up in two days. *huge hug*

Stiles got out of the hospital three hours later just as the sun was rising over Beacon Hills. The rest of the pack had sleeked off home, well, Erica and Boyd had. Now that the Hale house was once again reduced to rubble, Isaac, Peter and Derek were left out in the cold. Scott had insisted that Isaac could crash at his place for a few hours and the pair left Derek, Stiles and his dad at the front of the hospital. Peter had gone hours before, not long after confirming that Stiles was alive.

"So where are you going to stay now?" The Sheriff asked at they reached his cruiser.

"We'll be fine." Derek grumbled. "We'll just have to crash back at the deport until we can figure out what to do about the house."

"I can't see the fire department letting you back in. The place was completely gutted this time. They'll probably insist on it being demolished. I'm sorry son."

Derek sighed, nodding.

"You'll just have to rebuild it from scratch." Stiles insisted.

"I don't think I'll be trusting any builders again."

"It's lucky then that you have seven big strong werewolves that can help then, huh? - Oh and me of course."

"If he wants the place to stay standing he'll keep you as far away as possible." The Sheriff joked.

"Hey, no fair. I'm not that useless."

Derek smirked at him with a hungry meaningful look in his green eyes, which had the teen blushing. "I don't know what I'll be doing."

"Did you have insurance?"

Derek shook his head.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out. I'd offer you our spare room, but I don't think that's a good idea." he said firmly, watching his sons shoulder slump.

"Thank you sir, but I wouldn't accept. The deport is fine for us, and if I'm going to start helping Ash Darby get control over her change we'll need somewhere out of the way."

The Sheriff nodded understandingly.

"Where is Ash going to stay?" Stiles suddenly ask.

The Sheriff hadn't even thought of that. "I guess she'll have to stay with us for the time being."

"I don't think that…." Derek began.

"That's cool. She's going to be totally freaking out, what with the werewolf thing and her dad being dead. The last thing she needs it to be around strangers. Ash has been a good friend to me over the past couple of months. - And hey, I totally helped Scott deal with his change, I can be her Yoda too."

The two men stared at him.

"What?"

"Fine." they both said in unison and Stiles couldn't help but laugh.

"Now that's settled, can we go let her out of the jail cell and take her home?" Stiles asked.

The Sheriff nodded, strolling around the car to the driver's side door, leaving Stiles stood with Derek.

"So…" Stiles shuffled his feet. "I'll see you later? - Unless you're going to come with us?"

Derek shook his head. "No. I better go find Peter, check just how back the house really is and get everything settled back into the deport."

Stiles bit his lips. "Right, yeah."

"I'll drop by later." Derek whispered.

Stiles face split into a grin. "You'd better. I'm still waiting for my kiss."

"Later." Derek said in a husky tone.

"Derek" The Sheriff called from the driver's side.

"Sir?" he replied, leaning down to look through the open window.

"Drop by the house later; we can discuss your starting work at the station, and other stuff."

Derek swallowed. "Yes sir." he straightened, giving Stiles a nervous look.

"Yeah, chill Wolf-man. I'll be right there to protect you from the big bad sheriff." he winked before yanking open the door and climbing in. "Laters."

Derek watched the cruiser pull away with a weird yet comfortable warmth in his gut.

~SEA OF TROUBLES~

Ash looked like a wreck when they opened the door to her cell. She was so pale Stiles almost thought she was dead and he'd almost thrown up until she moaned and opened her eyes, the dark shadows beneath them standing out. Stiles took a slow step into the cell, dropping down on the small bed next to her.

"Ash?"

"Stiles?" she frowned, looking from her friend to her surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You're at the station. Come on, let's get you out of here." he said, wrapping his arm around the girl.

"What am I doing here Stiles? Has my dad come?"

Stiles looked at his dad mournfully. "No Ash. Come on. You're coming back with me and my dad. We'll talk when we get home."

Ash froze looking at the pair. "What's happened?" she pressed in a panic.

"You don't remember anything?" The Sheriff frowned.

Ash shook her head.

"Makes sense. Scott never remembered either." Stiles murmured, glancing to his father. "Ash, you….you know what you are right?"

Her whole posture stiffened. "I…what?"

Stiles looked at his dad again, who glanced over his shoulder to make sure there was no one there before nodding at his son.

"Ash, you're a werewolf." he whispered.

The teenager laughed. "No. I'm not. - That's ridiculous. Werewolves aren't real."

"Ash, you know they're really. Your dad's a hunter. You were bitten, weren't you? Before you got here?"

Her pale features grew paler. "I…." she shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked down at her feet and seemed to suddenly notice the stains on her hands that hadn't been washed off. "Oh god…" she gasped. "What…what happened? What did I do?"

"Shhh, it's okay." Stiles said quickly, wrapping his arm tighter around her to calm his friend. "We're going to deal with it. Derek's going to help you."

She was shaking her head. "My dad….my dad's going to kill me. Oh god. Did I hurt someone?" she looked up at Stiles pleadingly, wanting so desperately to hear that she hadn't.

"Let's go to my house, we'll explain everything."

Ash's broke down instantly, her whole body shaking from the force of the sobs that ripped through her. Stiles and his dad had to help walk her out of the building and to the cruiser.

Ash sat silently trembling in the backseat all the way to the house. Stiles kept looking back over his shoulder at her, his brows pulled tight together. She was still crying, staring down at her blood stained hands. Finally they pulled into their driveway and Stiles quickly climbed out of the car and opened the back door, holding out his hand to her. Ash took it slowly and allowed Stiles to lead her into the house.

Inside, they sat her down at the dining room table, fetched her a glass of water and took seats either side of her. No one spoken, Stiles surprisingly lost for words. It was Ash that finally broke the silence.

"So….what did I do?"

Stiles swallowed, looking at his dad before turning back to her. "It wasn't your fault, okay? You weren't in control." he insisted, his chest clenching at the pained gaze she shot his way. "You couldn't have stopped it, Ash. You must know that. The Wolf-Bane was never going to cure you; it was just holding back the inevitable and killing you in the process."

"I-it was all I could t-think of. M-my dad…." she shook her head, her voice breaking over the words. "H-he's going to h-hate me. He's g-going to k-kill m-me."

"He's not going to lay a hand on you." Stiles dad insisted, gripping the teenager's hand.

"H-he will. He hates werewolves. He's never going—"

"Ash." Stiles shifted forward in his seat. "I swear to you, you're dad isn't going to do anything to you. Ever."

She stared at him, her eyes shifting from wide to narrow. "How do you know?" She asked has suspiciously.

Stiles looked at his dad pleadingly.

"Ash." the Sheriff sighed. "I'm sorry but….you're dad…."

"Oh god. He's dead isn't he? - What happened? Who?"

"He was trying to burn Derek's house down with the pack inside." Stiles said in a rush of words. "He kidnapped me and was threatening to kill me in front of Derek."

"What? Why….?"

"He thought Derek or one of the others was responsible for turning you, and for…." he looked at the table top. "….killing Justin."

"Justin?" Ash frowned. "As in your Justin."

Stiles laughed sadly. "He wasn't mine, but yes."

It took Ash a few moments to put things together and then she let out a pain yelp, her arms wrapping around herself as she doubled over in tears. Stiles dropped to his knees beside her, his arms instantly wrapping around her to comfort her.

"Oh god, I killed Justin. I killed him and almost got you killed too." she shook her head, her body trembling with pain and shock. "I'm sorry. Oh god I'm so sorry." she sniffled. "I killed someone."

"It's alright, Ash. It wasn't your fault."

"It was." she sobbed. "I should have….I should have killed myself the moment I got bit."

"Hey, no you shouldn't!" Stiles snapped. "That's stupid. Being a werewolf isn't anything to be ashamed off."

"I killed someone!" Ash snapped.

"Because you were fighting against being a werewolf. Because you didn't know how to control it because your dad was a hunter and made you think it was a bad thing. If you'd had a pack, they would have helped you deal and you would have been able to control the change."

Ash shook her head. "No."

"Yes!" Stiles insisted. "Scott did. And Erica. Isaac. Boyd. They've all found a way to control themselves during the full moon or when they're angry, because they had a pack, and an alpha that cares. Derek will help you do the same thing. And so will I. - Your going to be fine Ash. I swear."

"But I've killed someone." she sniffled again, her eyes shifting to the Sheriff.

"It was an accident." The Sheriff said calmly. "I believe my son when he says it wasn't your fault."

"You shouldn't." Ash insisted. "I'm evil."

Stiles gripped her shoulders, turning her to look at him. "You're not evil. Werewolves aren't evil. Sure there are some bad seeds, but there are bad humans. - Ash…" his voice softened. "I've met more evil hunters, than evil werewolves."

"Like my dad?"

Stiles didn't answer that. "You knew Kate Argent right?"

Ash frowned, nodding. "She was dating dad before she was killed."

"Now she was evil. Insane and evil. She burned innocent women and children just because they were werewolves, or were associated with them."

"She did?" The Sheriff frowned.

"And her dad. He was going to kill Derek and become alpha because he was sick and didn't want to die. He manipulated his own grand-daughter to try and get her to kill the pack. And Allison's mom, she tried to kill Scott because he was dating Allison. - Do you know what Derek and the pack have done? - Nothing. They've never hurt anyone. Not ever. - Sure, Peter killed Kate." he glanced over at his dad, he wasn't going to drop Peter in it over the murders, not yet at least, his dad was still having trouble processing the whole wolf thing without adding the complication of crazy uncle Peter to the mix. "Which was totally wrong, but Kate tried to kill him, Derek, and Scott first."

Stiles paused to catch his breath, blaming the smoke damage to his lungs for his sudden inability to speak endless in one long sentence. "Derek can help you, Ash." he said after a few silenced minutes. "You can have a normal full life. - It's not a death sentence. All you have to do is accept that you're a werewolf. And that it doesn't make you evil." he insisted.

Ash stared at him for a long time and Stiles wondered if she was going to ignore everything he'd just said. He hoped not, he really didn't want to lose Ash. She'd been a good friend to him over the past month, and he just knew she'd make a wonderful pack-member. She certainly wouldn't ignore his calls.

"I'm tired." she sighed warily. "What's going to happen to me now that dad's…."

"You can stay here for the time being." The Sheriff said gently.

"Thank you sir."

The Sheriff shook his head. "You're welcome. Stiles will show you to the spare room so you can rest."